This is what the Federal Nats MP Luke Hartsuyker is saying in his first 2010 e-newsletter sent this week:
"Many tertiary students have started their 2010 studies uncertain about the entitlement to Independent Youth Allowance and Commonwealth scholarships."
Of course they have Luke - you and your mates voted to block passage of the government bill which would have established the guidelines and payment schedule for these entitlements!

Author: Andrew Kipnis, ANU

A household survey I undertook in China in 2005 and 2006 revealed that all of the families surveyed wanted their child to attend university.The sample included a representative number of students from wealthy and relatively impoverished families and of students with above- and below-average academic records. Most of the people I spoke to were shocked that I could even ask such a question. ‘Of course’, or ‘Doesn’t everybody want that?’ were common replies.

The educational desire revealed by this survey is an important social fact about contemporary China. It influences household and national economic priorities, strategies for political legitimation, birth rates, ethnic relations between Han and non-Han groups, gender and family relations and much more. Read more »

So that you won’t ever have to find out one day that they have written something like this to Universal Studios.

Reminds me of the Potterfan that accused Terry Pratchett of stealing the idea of a school for wizards from JK Rowling. When Pterry mildly responded that he first wrote about Unseen University in 1983, before HP was a glimmer in JKR’s eye, the Potterfan became even more incensed, huffing that he must therefore be accusing JKR of stealing his ideas. Read more »

The education revolution rolls on, with the release of the draft national curriculum for public comment (a couple of earlier LP threads were here and here).

The website seems to show the influence of the Web 2.0 taskforce – you get rather slick, multi-dimensional views of the curriculum standards, and it’s dead easy to leave feedback on specific points – after you’ve registered, that is. What it does seem to lack, however, is convenient links to context which explain each element in the proposed curriculum. For instance, in the Year 10 science curriculum, we have the following item:

Evaluating evidence: Critique claims about scientific issues including consideration of methodology and use students’ own findings and secondary evidence to make informed decisions. Read more »

I think I’ve said before that I was raised by scientists. When possible, I try to explain things scientifically to my children. Obviously there’s a limit to their understanding at this point, but when they were scared of thunder and lightning recently, I told my daughter it wasn’t monsters (as she feared) but electricity in the sky, caused by hot air hitting cold air.

When my daughter was asking why ice turned into water, I explained the concept of change of state to her. I explained that ice, water and steam were all made up of the same little tiny invisible pieces, but the difference was in how fast they were moving. The explanation ran thusly: Read more »